It is clear from what Jim has said that there can be multiple starborn, and that to be starborn you need two things:
1.  To be born at roughly the right time.  Apparently it wasn't an exact minute kinda thing, and Harry and Elaine were both contenders, so it may even range over months.
2.  They need to be "activated" in some way.  Not everyone who was born on Harry's birthday is a Starborn, but I suspect Harry has been since he was "activated" by HWWB.

It is clear from what bigfoot said that this is a normal process - something big is coming, and it is normal and important to have starborn when it does.  The older wizards are hanging on to have some say in whatever the big thing is that's coming.

It's clear from what Listen's said to Ethnui that he is a Starborn, and that makes him valuable.  It seems to me that every faction that wants to be a player in whatever is coming (some like the Svartelves may just want to keep their heads down) needs to have a Starborn.

Potential/known Starborn:
1.  Harry
2.  Listen (deceased?)
3.  Drakul (probably on team evil - possibly a former human starborn who sucked in an outsider and now cohabitates with it mentally, immune to its control but warped by it anyways?)
3.  Elaine (per WOJ)
4.  Gatekeep (would make sense for position, is he old enough to be Starborn from 666 years ago?)
5.  English guy in Demonreach?

And that leads me to a big question, who is the White Council's Starborn?  They crap all over Harry all the time and just threw him out.  There is no way they would be throwing him out if he was their plan.  So who are they grooming to be their Starborn contender?  Harry is really the only person of his generation we see, everyone else is always markedly older or younger, and since all starborn should be the same age that means we haven't seen a contender yet.

You know, there is one other person we can add to the list of possible starborn individuals.  Nicodemus could be starborn from a previous cycle.  3 x 666 years = 1998 years.  That would put Nicodemus' birth roughly a couple of decades before the birth of Jesus, about 24 BC

Here is the math.  According to the official Dresden Files timeline, Harry was born roughly 26 years before the events in Storm Front.  If Storm Front takes place in 2000, that puts Harry's birth in 1974.  A year or two either way doesn't make a significant difference in the overall calculation.

If Nicodemus is starborn; born in or very near 24 BC, he would have been in his mid-fifties around the time of The Crucifixion.  Not an impossible age to reach back then, but for most people it would have been old age or very close to what would have been considered old age back then. 

Someone had to gather up the thirty pieces of silver to place the fallen in.  Someone had to take the noose that Judas used to hang himself from the body.  Why not Nicodemus?  This would mean that Nicodemus was the very first Denarian as well as being Starborn.  There is no direct evidence in the Dresden Files novels for this to be the case, but it feels right.

I don't think Tessa can be Starborn.  Nicodemus takes her; probably buys her, from a brothel in Greece (Thessalonica) when she is still a teenager.  If Tessa was born in 24 BC or a year or two in either direction, there weren't any Denarians when Nicodemus found her and Nic wouldn't have been one at the time. 

It is still possible but it's messy.  A wealthy person in the Roman Empire who purchased a sex slave wouldn't marry her.  It might happen in a Hollywood movie, but not in real life.  I think they marry after they become Denarians, because they both would have been outside of normal society then, but that is just my guess.  In any case, Tessa lacks the gravitas to feel like a character who might be starborn.

I started this thread four years ago asking the question, "Who is Mab's backup plan?"  Her backup if Harry can't stop Nemesis or Harry dies before the final confrontation.  The answer is obvious now.  It must be Nicodemus. 

Mab got her revenge against Nicodemus by manipulating him to kill his own daughter; the only person Nic could trust to have his back.  Mab isn't above turning around and using Nicodemus if she deems it necessary.





     

I haven't reread the books you mentioned and don't remember them.  That's why rereading the series is important because as the series goes on looking back at the subtleties of what was said or unsaid become significant sometimes. The thought just hit me reading the above that maybe Eb didn't abandon young Harry or lose track of him in the foster system at all.   Given his secrecy about his family thinking he was protecting young Harry by not advertising his relationship to him, could Eb have made a bargain with Lea to watch over Harry in his absence?  We know she was the nice lady that visited from time to time when Harry was in the orphanage.  And yeah, when and if the truth ever comes out about that bargain, if it was made, I can see Harry resenting both Lea and Eb because of it.  I don't think since he endured years in an orphanage and ended up with Justin that that was a very good bargain as far as he was concerned.

I think you may be on to something.  I'll go a little further.  I won't be surprised if we eventually discover that Lea made separate deals with Margaret, then Ebenezer, Justin; perhaps later or perhaps around the same time as Ebenezer, and finally Harry.  Being second only to Mab in all things Winter, I can imagine Lea recounting how she kept the word of every deal she made while exploiting every loophole available to her, to advance her own agenda.

Rereading Morgan’s journal, the late warden said he expected Captain Luccio to read it so it turns out she did know what Morgan knew about Harry or learned from Morgan’s journal what he knew.  Morgan said that he made a promise to Margaret LeFay to protect Harry but he failed to do so.  This is really odd seeing as Margaret was on the run from the Wardens as well as Lord Raith and company.  Perhaps we will learn the complete story of how this occurred sometime down the line. 

Morgan didn’t know who killed Malcolm Dresden and the warden said he couldn’t be certain Malcolm’s death was a murder, but I think we can safely assume that it was just that.  Morgan tracked Harry and his father until the time of Malcolm’s death, but he wasn’t able to arrive until after Harry had been placed into the foster care system and disappeared from the system and it was done in every way possible, magically as well as bureaucratically.  Morgan also said that he looked for Harry for years after this but couldn’t find him.  Morgan then said, “that bastard Justin DuMorne got to him before I could,” but did he? 

Morgan said that because of the amount of time Harry was missing, being hidden by Justin, the Council couldn’t be certain Harry hadn’t been infected by Nemesis.  This is why he felt it was probably safer to kill Harry outright, but of course Ebenezar felt differently.

We know Justin DuMore eventually got a hold of Harry, but that doesn’t mean Justin was responsible for Malcolm’s death or that he was the individual who placed Harry into the system and made his records disappear. 

It appears that Lea visited Harry from time to time before he was adopted by Justin.  Dina has stated that she thinks Lea might have murdered Malcolm.  She isn’t the only person to have come to this conclusion.  I and at least one or two others have placed Lea on the suspect list for Malcolm’s death.  Lea kills Malcolm as part of a deal with Justin or someone else.  We don’t know what Lea was promised to get out of this deal, though we do know that she was eventually able to cut Justin out of the picture and get her hooks into Harry.  Lea getting Harry to get rid of Justin is accurate, but the rest of it is speculative.

There is another scenario where the White Council is responsible for the murder of Malcolm Dresden.  It might seem a bit far fetched, but it is a possibility.  Morgan said he tracked Harry and Malcolm until Malcolm’s death, but he was away on a mission at the time, and this is why Morgan wasn’t able to get to young Harry.  How convenient for the killer. 

Donald Morgan was loyal to Arthur Langtry.  Whatever conversation or communication he had with Margaret LeFay he probably reported to the Merlin.  This seems especially likely to me as it concerned a soon to be starborn individual.  Morgan, being a straightforward person, would have told the Merlin that he promised Margaret that he would protect her child.

The Merlin would have known that Warden Morgan wouldn’t willingly break his given word; especially concerning the protection of a child, so he went along with Morgan keeping tabs on Harry and Malcolm’s movements only asking for occasional updates.  For some reason, after six years the Merlin decided the situation with Harry had to change.  Perhaps the Merlin had a good reason, perhaps he learned there was a competing party looking to find Harry or perhaps the Merlin never liked the idea of a non-magic user looking after a starborn whose mother had been a strong magic practitioner.  Whatever the reason, the Merlin sends Morgan on a time consuming mission to sideline him and sends the Blackstaff to kill Malcolm Dresden; both for Harry’s greater good and the good of the White Council.

Here is why I don’t consider this scenario just a wild ass guess.  In Peace Talks, when Harry is arguing with Eb about Maggie’s safety, Harry tells Ebenezar about the emotional harm he suffered when Eb abandoned Harry to be placed in the foster care system.  Ebenezar couldn’t even look Harry in the face as Harry said this and Ebenezar didn’t deny it.  That is a problem.  If Justin DuMorne found Harry first and with Lea’s help or by himself, made Harry disappear, why didn’t Eb set Harry straight?  “Hoss, I’m sorry, but you are wrong.  I didn’t abandon you, Justin DuMorne made you disappear before me or anyone on the Council could find you.  We didn’t see you until after you killed Justin in a duel.”

Maybe Ebenezar didn’t kill Malcolm, but there is a contradiction here, and not a small one.  I would have thought that one of the Beta readers would have noticed it first.  I hope this isn’t some Dresden multiverse nonsense.  I don’t have a problem with little things, like in one book there is a Brighter Future Society, but in another book it is the Better Future Society, that the description of Mort Lindquist’s home changes dramatically between books, Bianca’s dead lover changes names between Storm Front and Grave Peril or Harry has never been inside Marcone’s castle in Cold Days or Skin Game, but I think in the same book Harry mentions he went inside that same castle when he was a ghost.  These are little details that tell us there is a Dresden multiverse, but they aren’t major contradictions which threaten to seriously break continuity.

I think there are two answers that resolve this situation.  One is Morgan was wrong.  Justin didn’t disappear Harry.  By some means Justin got ahold of Harry later on.  Ebenezar was responsible for making Harry disappear into the state system.  The second is Ebenezar stood back and watched it happen.  In that case Eb almost certainly knows who killed Malcolm Dresden and kept this secret, just like he kept the secret of Margaret's death from Harry.  But why would Eb do that if Justin killed Malcolm?  Ebenezar kept his knowledge of Margaret's murder from Harry because he didn't want Harry going off after Lord Raith when he knew Harry couldn't harm Raith and would just get himself killed.  If Justin killed Malcolm, that excuse doesn't fit.

Only Morgan was in doubt about young Harry’s whereabouts.  Ebenezar knew, or at least knew who disappeared Harry and wasn't concerned about it.  This would suggest Eb considered the party who disappeared Harry was keeping the child safe.  Not someone who would use or twist Harry for their own means.  This would mean it was someone Ebenezar trusted.  Who could that be?   

There have been some really interesting posts in this thread, with a number of good points made by a number of different people.  But I think the overall analysis of the White Council is missing something and it has to do with secrets.  Who is clued in, has deep knowledge of what is going on when it comes to Harry Dresden, and who doesn't.  The White Council is not a monolith.  The White Council can be mentally divided into several factions.  Not political factions, but different groups defined by the level of knowledge they possess.  Because of gaps in knowledge, these different Council groups fear Harry for different reasons.

Harry was voted out of the Council by a general vote of all it's members.  The rank and file members who are not wardens, not support staff who work in Edinburgh HQ and not members of the Senior Council, probably know the least about Harry, but they make up a majority of the White Council.  They are therefore the easiest to frighten and manipulate into voting against Harry.  Remember, that in their eyes Harry initiated a war with the Red Court and his destruction of the Reds allowed the Fomor to rise.  These two things on their own probably got some of their friends killed and put their own lives in danger.  Then there was the botched trial of Morgan, which also got a number of wizards killed.  They could have blamed Harry for that as well.  If that is the case, they might have a point.  There is a reason why warlocks are bound and forced to wear a hood. It's so they can't do they kind of things Peabody did.  In some peoples minds, that might be enough to vote Harry out.  Add a fear campaign to fully turn the normie wizards against Harry and he's out.

The Wardens have a higher level of knowledge, but I'd bet very few of them are fully clued in.  Someone like Morgan, because of his close association with the Merlin, might have had more knowledge of what it means that Harry is Starborn, and maybe more knowledge than even Captain Lucio currently has.  Though there is no way to be certain of this.  The micro-fiction blog Jim wrote about Morgan suggests his knowledge was at a high level.  I'd bet that most wardens think that Harry is a good candidate to go warlock and might be headed in that direction; Carlos Ramirez would be in this group, and others might see parallels between Harry and Kemmler.  That might be the limit of what they know and what they fear.

I think the Senior Council members who know about Harry being Starborn; and who know what that means or could mean, think Harry becoming the next Heinrich Kemmler is the least of their potential problems.  Also, not all of the Senior Council may be fully clued-in.  I think there is a decent chance that Senior Council member Cristos is in the dark on this.  Harry thought Cristos was Black Council, but it seems more like Cristos is a buffoon or someone's useful idiot, than a true power player of the very highest level.  If Cristos didn't already know before he joined the Senior Council, I don't see why anyone already on the Senior Council would want to clue him in.

Why don't I think Harry = Kemmler 2.0 is the real fear driving the Senior Council?  Jim stated that Drakul thought that Kemmler's behavior was amusing, something that was funny.  While that gives us a clue just how twisted Drakul is, I think it also tells us that he didn't rate Kemmler that highly.  Kemmler was a very dangerous person, but even though things like setting up World War One was supposedly one of his projects, I suspect the mad necromancer was somewhat random in his depravity.  Beings like Nemesis and Drakul rank higher on the bad news scale because they have a plan.  Make that plans.  Their interests might diverge greatly from one another.

The the Senior Council's behavior toward Harry is really strange.  At least it seems that way to me.  Vincentric said something interesting about this.  Here a quote: 

If you saw one of the most promising talents of the past century who is also a Starborn, walking close to the darkness, would you try a calm and reasoned intercession or would you bully, threaten and ostracize him even though he has not done any dark acts?

It seems counter productive.  Almost like the Senior Council was pushing Harry towards the dark side.  Kind of dumb, unless that is exactly what they wanted to do.  Well, maybe not make Harry into a monster that would turn on the Council, but a monster they could control.  Isn't that what Justin DuMorne tried to do, in a very crude way?  Of course, making a monster you can control would be a real tricky thing to do.  It didn't work out so well for Justin. 

I want to give you some evidence for what I am thinking.  First, consider something Mab said to Harry and then the rest of the conversation between Mab and Ebenezar:

Mab - "Be comforted, my Knight: I chose you for times precisely such as these, when an elemental of destruction is what is most needed."
What does Mab mean when she describes Harry using the word "elemental?"  In simplest terms, when you are using elemental as an adjective, it means "related to, or embodying the powers of nature."  But when you are using elemental as a noun it means, "a supernatural entity or force thought to be physically manifested by occult means."  (Both definitions from the online Oxford Dictionary)  It could mean Harry uses supernatural force or supernatural forces were used to create Harry.  I'm think that with Harry being Starborn, it means the later.  She is naming Harry as a force who was created for causing destruction.

Mab then starts gushing over Harry's potential for "true greatness" and it really starts to irk Ebenezar.
Eb - “He is not your weapon, Mab.”  And Eb's voice is described as having granite in it.
Mab – “He is exactly my weapon.  By his own choice.  Which is more than your people ever gave him.  And they call the Sidhe wicked and deceitful.”  At this point Harry looked at Ebenezar but Eb refused to meet Harry’s gaze.

Ebenzar might have used different words or phrases to contest Mab.  "He is your Knight Mab, not your plaything."  Instead, Ebenezar; without any prompting or hints from Mab, described Harry as a weapon.  That is exactly how Mother Winter described Harry in Cold Days:
 Mother Summer narrowed her eyes. "Is he ready?"
Mother Winter - "There is no time to coddle him," she rasped. "He is a weapon. Let him be made stronger."

Though Margaret LeFay's role in Harry being Starborn is somewhat vague at this point, I think the White Council started to manipulate and mold Harry from time they found him.  Whether that was right after Malcolm Dresden died or after Harry killed Justin, I can't be certain.  Justin might have part of the Council's plan and turned on the Council or he may have been operating independently all along.  We don't have enough information to know with certainty. I think Ebenezar was in on the plan, whenever it started.  He said he soulgazed Malcolm Dresden. "...a man with a good soul, like few I have ever seen." 

If Justin raising Harry was part of the Council's plan to mold Harry, when Harry broke the First Law by killing Justin, the Council believed they had made a mistake, that Harry was a mistake.  It didn't matter that Harry acted in self defense or that Justin had become a warlock himself.  Harry was too dangerous and too unpredictable to trust.  Of course, Ebenezar felt differently and he managed to get Harry a reprieve, The Doom.  The Council's fear that Harry couldn't be controlled remained and even Ebenzar's closest allies remained warry of Harry.
 Martha Liberty - "You know what he was meant to be. He's too great a risk."

I think Ebenzar believes that as long as Harry might still become a weapon of the White Council, he can protect Harry from the Council's wrath.  The thing about weapons, is when they get used in wars, they usually get used up and then are discarded.  I'm not sure Eb is doing Harry any long-term favors by trying to protect him. 

I wonder if there are any other starborn besides Harry, Listen and Dracul?  Specifically, any other starborn the Senior Council might want to use in Harry's place.  With Ethniu locked up and with Korb wanting him dead, Listen needs a new employer. 

What do you think?  Except for that last sentence, that was a lame joke.  Am I on the right track?  I know this puzzle is missing some pieces, but it feels right to me.  Harry is a weapon who may have been created by the will of Margaret LeFey, but one who has been molded by the White Council, until they gave up on him.  Except for Ebenezar and maybe Listen's to Wind and a few others. 

Post Script: This is why LTW and Eb don't want tell Harry everything.  Harry might not react well to this information.  An elemental of destruction not reacting well could be a real problem.   
 
 

 
       

I echo that, having suffered from it as well, lots of pain and loss of sleep from the pain, hope Jim gets well soon.

I forgot about the loss of sleep part.  That was maddening and even if the pain diminished while I was awake, not sleeping killed my ability to concentrate while I was awake.  The right painkillers helped me sleep, but they aren't a solution and they have their drawbacks when you are awake.  Plus, they are potentially addictive so it isn't something you want to rely on for any great length of time.

Jim mentioned recently he had a slip disk which was why the book stalled. Hoping it picks up now?

That is a real sucky injury, though at least it wasn't something life threatening.  I've had it happen to me.  As long as you don't require surgery it can be dealt with, with good long-term recovery possible, even though potential for further injury always remains. 

Until the injury is dealt with, the pain can be very distracting and pain killers can dull any writer's ability to get work done.  I required cortisone injections and I lost considerable weight after that to reduce the chance of reinjuring myself.  My doctor tried other therapies before the cortisone injections, so I can understand how this situation has cost Jim a fair amount of work time.   

In my case, this injury occurred over fifteen years ago and I haven't had any pain since then.

Good luck Jim!

One of things I appreciate about the Dresden Files as I get older; I started reading the books in 2007, is seeing Harry feeling the weight of the decisions he has made over time.  Even in the early books Harry is given some hard lessons that get him to rethink some of his beliefs, change his ways of handling various situations and give him a better understand the potential consequences of his decisions.  The easiest example of this how Harry not clueing in Kim Delany on how greater magic circles worked led to her death.  I'm not forgetting that Kim's failure to tell Harry why she wanted to learn how these type of circles functioned was also a major contributor to the Loup Garou killing her, but I'm not here to discuss the decisions and actions of minor characters.

Today, even though it's obvious that there many things Harry still has to learn, he feels like a person who has matured, who has learned lessons and feels the weight of the responsibilities he has taken on.  Perhaps because a number of other fantasy series take place within a much shorter time frame, the main characters rarely feel like they have grown and lived to the same degree they have grown in power.

There is a book series I am currently reading where I am about the 9th or 10th book.  It is called the Arcane Casebook series by Dan Willis.  It takes place in an alternate version of 1930's New York, where magic doesn't simply exist, it is a part of everyday life.  It's raining and you don't have an umbrella but have to catch a taxi to go somewhere?  You activate a simple protection rune and the rain never lands on you, ice cold winds don't hit you face and you feel warm and cozy, though the protection is temporary, maybe half an hour.  The main character is a private detective who is also runewright who uses magic to solve crimes.  Runewrights are not the most powerful types of magic users; in fact most of them work for minimum wages making minor league runes for ordinary tasks.  However the main character, Private Detective Alex Lockerby has been taught writing runes and being a detective from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who has faked his own death and is living under an assumed named in New York City.

I am not putting this series down.  Most of the books have been a fun read and the plots and mysteries are generally well thought out.  Within the book world the series has progressed about eight or nine years, Alex has made new friends and allies, learned more about both his craft and the wider world.  He has lost friends and a lover and seen a lot of misery in the world around him.  Yet, the main character doesn't feel like he has changed very much since the first book.  There is a lack of gravitas there.  Or, at least that is how I see it.

As far as appreciating the motivations and feelings of the older characters in the Dresden Files, that is more of a mixed bag.  For example, there is a micro fiction where we read that Morgan felt bad that he couldn't protect a young Harry the way Margaret LeFay had asked him to.  But Morgan also thought it might be a good idea to kill a grown Harry.  We don't really know why.  What do they fear Harry will become?  I used to think it was Harry becoming a new version of Kemmler.  Then I thought that Harry's potential; according to Lash, to hold power over Outsiders was what the Council feared.  Harry might use the Outsiders to become a dangerous and out of control power in his own right.  But the more I think about it the more I think these types of fears are too small.  Mab may have hinted what the Council and even Ebenezer really fears, that Harry might one day be able to become an immortal.  A being more powerful than the entire White Council.  Ebenezar seemed very agitated in Battle Ground when Mab said to Harry, "Immortality offers a significant advantage, but it is no substitute for intelligence.  Remember that young wizard. Should it for some bizarre reason ever be necessary."

As far as Ebenezar's greater depth of knowledge of the workings of the White Court, it makes sense the Eb has seen more than Harry has, but Harry has probably seen a lot more than Ebenzar gives him credit for.  Harry saw first hand how the thralls of the White Court were treated at the gathering of the three main White Court factions.  Harry soulgazed a women who had been victimized by Madeline Raith.  Harry also overheard the psychic attack the Skavis agent used against Elaine.  Ebenezar has suffered a greater personal loss at the hands of the White Court.  Perhaps in Twelve Months we will find out what Ebenezar was talking about and Harry will learn things about the White Court he didn't know before.  If that doesn't happen then I would suspect that Eb's personal loss and the feelings they generated overwhelmed his rational mind.

In fact, now that I think about it, if Harry and Ebenzar were real people, I would advise grief counseling for Harry, but a much deeper intervention for Ebenezar.  Of the two of them, Ebenezar's loss of control was more troubling than Harry's was.  Not the Harry starting to crush Rudolph to death wasn't troubling, but his reaction to seeing Karin gunned down by Rudolph was understandable if not rational.  Ebenezar tried to kill Harry because he was angry that Harry wouldn't obey him.  That, and finding out a White Court vampire is his grandson.  Ebenezar's desire to protect Harry ran totally out of control into Eb trying to kill Harry.  Now I think I have a better understanding of how Ebenzar drove his daughter away from him.